What does the Bible say about to do lists?

Did you know there are lists in the Bible? Do you keep lists? Do you find them helpful? Do you consider them a waste of time?

I am not a great list keeper, but I do find them helpful when I have a lot to do and I want to keep track of when I get things done. And I agree with many people who think scratching the last item off a list is one of the most satisfying feelings in the world.

It started with God, then at home

My familiarity with lists began with my mom. She had seven children in a large house and a big yard to maintain. I remember getting a list of chores on Saturday morning as soon as I was able to read. It was usually simple tasks to read and do. My older siblings got more extensive lists. It was the only way to keep us on task as we prepared for the next week or the next event. Mom used lists most of her life, in one form or another.

All the organization and productivity experts proclaim the usefulness of lists. There are websites devoted specifically to extolling the virtues of lists. Most software programs have list functions. Look at your computer file system, what do you see? Lists. Even the calendar on your wall or in your computer is essentially a list.

Where did our love for lists begin? I believe lists began with God. The Bible is full of lists, and while some are tedious for us to read, I believe all of them have a purpose. Here is a list of Biblical lists and how they show God’s character and His love for us.

Biblical Lists (not an exhaustive list)

1. The Creation Project List (Genesis 1)

Genesis 1 is a task list with everything checked off (“It was good.“) But within the list are sub-lists of the types of creatures he created “according to their kind” (vss.11, 21, 24). The plants have three categories, the sea creatures and birds are two categories, the land animals have three categories.

Project management experts consider this type of list a “work breakdown structure” that includes several project activities. The list also includes a list of instructions to the stakeholders (Genesis 1:28-30).

God’s power, knowledge and love for us are shown in this list. The entirety of creation is man-centric. The lights in the heavens were for man to track time (Genesis 1:14), the plants were for his and the animals’ food (Genesis 1:29), and the animals were categorized according to their usefulness to man (Genesis 1:24).

2. People Lists

God includes several genealogical lists in the Bible. Normally we just skip them, don’t we? Some may ask, “Why bother reading the lists in the Bible?” There are a lot of treasures buried in the genealogies. Here are just a few of the people lists we shouldn’t skip:

Genesis 10: List of post-flood nations

This list explains the main people groups that first spread out across the world after Noah’s flood. These were the families of the sons of Noah, according to their generations, in their nations; and from these the nations were divided on the earth after the flood. (Genesis 10:32)

God lists these nations that came from Noah as a precursor to the Babel account in Genesis 11, but Paul references the idea that “He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth” in his message to the Athenians in Acts 17:26. It’s a picture of God’s sovereignty over the affairs of men and of nations.

Numbers 1 and 26: Israel’s census

God commands Moses to take a census of Israel at the beginning and at the end of their desert wanderings. The total numbers are not very different (603,530 vs. 601,730), which is amazing because everyone counted in the first census was dead by the time of the second census 38 years later.

God shows his faithfulness for His people even while they repeatedly rebelled against him. He fulfilled his promise that the older generations that turned away from the promised land would not survive, and also fulfilled his promise to give the promised land to their children.

Matthew 1 and Luke 3: Christ’s genealogies

I love these lists of Jesus’ ancestors. The parallel lists of Joseph’s and Mary’s family trees show God’s deliberate care in protecting the Messiah’s bloodline for us. Even the differences in the lists tell stories about how He is true to His word.

Matthew lists names from Abraham to Jesus, but Luke’s list is backward from Jesus all the way to Adam “the son of God”. When the lines diverge after David, you still see similar names in both lists, but in different generations. This divergence fulfills a later prophecy that Jeconiah (in Matthew’s list of Joseph’s lineage) would not have a descendant on the throne (Jeremiah 22:30). Mary’s lineage, reported by Luke, goes back to David through a son other than Solomon, so Jesus was born with Nathan’s DNA, not Solomon’s or Jeconiah’s.

3. Instructions Lists

Because God knows all things but we don’t, he gave us lists to keep track of the important stuff, like His commands. These are classic to-do lists, but not the check-it-off-when-I’m-done kind. They are lists of activities that we must continually do even after they have conformed us into His likeness.

Exodus 20:1-17: The Ten Commandments

When I told my wife I was thinking of writing a blog about God’s lists, she immediately mentioned this one. I was embarrassed that I hadn’t even though about it. It is the most quoted and referenced list in all the rest of the Scriptures.

This list of do’s and don’ts laid the foundation for Israel’s nation and gave inspiration for our nation’s constitution which emphasizes the rule of law. Every commandment expresses God’s character, and following them will develop His character in whomever does them.

Exodus 25-30: Tabernacle and Equipment List

The details of the fittings and fixtures of the Mosaic tabernacle are amazing, and all of them have significance in the story of God’s redeeming love for all people. The list was specific enough that Hebrew’s writer despaired of being able to cover it in his letter, saying after a quick rundown, “Of these things we cannot now speak in detail.” (Hebrews 9:2-5) We don’t continually rebuild the temple, but as we study the intricacies of God’s design for it, we begin to understand the building that Peter describes:

Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2: 4-5)

Ephesians 6:13-18: The Armor of God

Paul wrote a lot of lists in his letters, but this one gets the most memorization action. It’s a list of spiritual virtues described as pieces of a warrior’s armor. It explains the elements of spiritual warfare, which is our priority: For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)

4. Prayer Lists

God uses lists to show us how and what to pray.

Matthew 6:9-13: The Lord’s Prayer

In this manner, therefore, pray:
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And do not lead us into temptation,
But deliver us from the evil one.
For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.*

What a great prayer list. It’s a model that can be followed each time we pray, but it’s also a list of what we should pray. In Luke 11:1-4, Jesus repeats this list in response to the disciples’ desire to learn to pray.

1 Timothy 2:1-2: Types of Prayer

Paul lists different types of prayer, then tells us for whom to pray: “…first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority…”

If you study each of these types of prayer, it will enhance your prayer life (and you will find each of them in the Lord’s Prayer.

Prayers as Lists

God wants us to commune with Him, so he gives us lots of prayer lists. Paul wrote many of them, mostly in the form of prayers for us: Ephesians 1:15-20, Philippians 1:9-11, and Colossians 1:9-12 are just three examples.

But Paul’s prayer lists also qualify for the next type of list.

5. Virtue Lists

The goal of the Christian life is to be conformed to the image of Christ. We can look in the gospels to see Jesus, but sometimes it’s hard to discern exactly what virtues to imitate. So of course, there are lists of virtues in the Bible that make it pretty easy to understand the elements of conforming to Christ.

Matthew 5:3-12 The Beatitudes

When Jesus began His teaching ministry, He started with a list. You could make the case that this list is the outline for the rest of the Teaching on the Mount in Matthew 5 through 7. It has certainly been the outline for lots of sermons since.

Each of these blessings is bestowed on those who live a characteristic of God’s servants. Every one is worth emulating.

Galatians 5:22-23 The Fruit of the Spirit

Paul gives us this list in contrast to his preceding list of the vices of the world (vs. 19-21), and it’s good checklist to verify that we are walking in the Spirit.

2 Peter 1:5-7 Building Blocks

I used this list as the outline for my recent book, The Story Farm. I have always liked this list, maybe because Peter explains it progressively, each virtue building on the previous virtue. It was one of the first multi-verse passages I memorized as a new Christian.

All the virtue lists, including Paul’s prayers, are reminders of how far God’s thoughts are above our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9). These lists give us hope, because they are written to give us guidance for growth.

6. Plus-one Lists (Proverbs)

The title of this article claims 5 examples, this is the “plus one”.

I enjoy these lists from the book of Proverbs, because they use the format “this list of n, yea, n+1”. It’s used by Solomon in Proverbs 6:16-19 about abominations to the Lord. Agur uses the pattern four times in chapter 30 (Proverbs 30:15,18,21,29) along with his other lists.

Amos uses the same format eight times to begin his prophecies of God’s judgment against the nations in chapters 1 and 2, but he doesn’t specifically list all the crimes to be judged. I think it’s God’s way of saying that He has more reason to judge them than the “two or three witnesses” prescribed by the law. (Amos 1:3, 6, 9, 11, 13; 2:1, 4, 6)

Your lists

When you are at a point where a list would be helpful, and you’re not sure that you want or need to make one, remember that lists are originally God’s idea. So it’s a good idea to use them to help yourself be more like Him.

By His calling, in His strength,

Dean

P. S.: If you geek out about lists in and about the Bible, consider getting a Dake Bible. Finis Dake spent a long time adding study notes to his Bible, including a ton of lists. I don’t agree with some of Dake’s theology (especially about creation), and there were some questions about his character as a pastor, but his lists are spectacular.

*All Scripture quotations in this article are from the New King James Version (NKJV).

The Families from the Beginning newsletter provides twice-monthly insights and ministry updates. Click here to sign up for this email newsletter. Previous newsletters are here.